Off to the races: GOP's build-in '14 advantage

David Wasserman says if Republicans make gains in 2014, it’s likely not because it has anything to do with President Obama or a six-year itch, but a built-in GOP midterm advantage, especially with older voters.

Reid Wilson: “Republicans scheming to take back control of the Senate next year are walking a delicate line between the politically pragmatic decisions they need to make to win and an activist base that sees a nefarious, hidden agenda in Washington's meddling. And no one finds himself confronting those sometimes competing interests more than Jerry Moran, the Kansas Republican who heads the National Republican Senatorial Committee.”

MASSACHUSETTS: Ed Markey has a web video out tying Gabriel Gomez to Mitch McConnell and national Republicans after McConnell put out a fundraising email calling Gomez “crucial to taking back the Senate,” the Boston Globe reports.

NEW YORK: Andrew Cuomo isn’t embracing Anthony Weiner. He doesn’t want to talk about him. Said the New York governor: "I appreciate that you continue to ask questions that you know that I don't want to answer. I respect your perseverance. I hope that you respect my discipline." (H/T: Political Wire.)

VIRGINIA: E.W. Jackson, the controversial Republican nominee for lieutenant governor, said it was Ken Cuccinelli who suggested he run for lieutenant governor in 2010. Cuccinelli (R) is at the top of the Virginia gubernatorial ticket. Some have suggested Cuccinelli is trying to put distance between himself and Jackson, given Jackson’s past controversial statements, including regarding slavery and abortion.

Jackson told the Washington Post of Cuccinelli: “He said essentially: I think you’d make a good candidate for lieutenant governor. Have you thought about it? I do remember him suggesting that if it worked out . . . he would be proud to have me as a running mate.”

Cuccinelli’s spokeswoman tried to put some separation between Cuccinelli and Jackson’s account. “Ken asked why the Senate and if he ever thought to run for anything else — like maybe Lieutenant Governor? E.W. may have misconstrued that as a direct ask,” said Ana Nix.

TEXAS:Politico: “Gov. Rick Perry’s high-profile efforts to lure jobs to Texas from other states may be good business and smart politics back home, but they’re infuriating to prominent Democrats around the country. And now at least one Republican business leader says Perry’s taking the Lone Star swagger a little too far.”